


Under the Pale of a Vanishing World

by Alithea



Category: Sailor Moon
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-31
Updated: 2010-01-31
Packaged: 2017-10-06 21:46:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/58085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alithea/pseuds/Alithea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Time is a strange thing. Time has unlimited paradoxes. Time has made a promise to its guardian, Sailor Pluto.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"You did it again," Mamoru said softly, reminding, "You just called me Endyminion."

"Did I?" Setsuna smiled in embarrassment. "Forgive me…I was thinking-"

"Of another me," he asked trying not to look concerned.

She nodded, picked up her cup of tea and sipped from it slowly, maroon eyes delving into the light green of the liquid and resting heavily on the patterns the leaves at the bottom of the cup made. She saw for an instant that one of the leaves looked vaguely like a crescent moon. Setsuna Meioh was no fortuneteller; she could not predict the future by the shape of the leaves. She did not need to. Somewhere, always deep inside, she already knew everything that was going to happen.

Sensing the young man's growing concern she placed the cup back on the table and gave a thin half-hearted smirk.

"You're worried," she questioned.

"It's not like you to call me by any other name but my own unless we're in a battle. I've known you for a long time Setsuna and you are a great friend, but in the past hour and a half you have called me Endyminion twice."

Setsuna moved her gaze across the street. From the café they were sitting at she could see the Crown Arcade and a few of the people inside. It was Wednesday, and it was not very busy. Everyone was at work, or at school.

She and Mamoru had taken to meeting for a quiet lunch once a week. They were always fast friends. Usagi said it was because they were both too serious for their own good, but Setsuna understood it was because they knew how to talk to each other.

Setsuna could talk to Mamoru when he was worrying about destiny and they way it always felt like a vice about his neck. She knew what to say to calm him down. And he in turn would sit quietly and wait patiently for her to tell him what was on her mind, because it took her a while to even admit that she needed to talk. He would listen very carefully to each thing she would say; because he knew just how wisely she chose her words for fear that she may at some point perhaps say too much. When she was through he could look at her and tell her exactly what she needed in order to calm down, or not worry.

So it was on that day and they were talking just as friends do about the weather and other things that people talk about at lunch. He was right though, twice now she had called him by his other name, a name from the past, and a name from the future.

Setsuna took a moment, a second so short no one would ever have realized she had done it, to look in at Time. She went from the present where she sat to the future, and then back into the past. In those spots she saw herself having lunch with Endyminion who was also Mamoru, and she also saw herself checking on Time at the same exact moment. Her other selves gave her a polite wink and she returned the sentiment before quickly returning.

Time moved back into its normal flow and the moment washed away as quick as the beat of a butterfly's wing.

She grinned mysteriously and her friend involuntarily tensed.

"It's nothing to worry about Mamoru," she paused and then said almost with a chuckle, "I can tell you this and it won't ruin any part of the timeline, but… right now at this very moment in the past on the Moon Kingdom and in the future in Crystal Tokyo I am having lunch with you and telling you this. Maybe not exactly word for word but nearly. "

It seemed to amuse him slightly, the thought of always having had lunch with Setsuna even as far back as the first Silver Millennium, but then he found a worry and had to ask, "What does it mean?"

"Nothing to you, all it is, is a place where Time overlaps upon itself, almost like deja vous."

It was enough to clear him of worry, but of course Setsuna did not say what it meant to her. Because what it meant to her was something that she could never express clearly in words. It was all Time, it was all a part of the swirl, the drift of colored fog, and of course it was a part of the great exception to the heavy rules with which Setsuna had guarded Time since the beginning.

Under the pale of a darkening sky  
With the polite promise of nothing sacred  
Is the whisper that you shall see me again  
In this world lonely as I am  
I find comfort in this moment  
In this knowing  
I shall see you again

Very distracted, everyone seemed to pick up on it immediately when Setsuna arrived home. There was a much mellower gait to the way she strode up to her room to put her things down, and in the corner of her mouth lay a smirk that refused to explain itself. The Outer Senshi, Michiru in particular, did not want to question the unusual sense of content and happiness that she was emitting. There were so many times when she was in affect too contemplative, quiet, serious, and distantly close. Seeing her with a smirk for no other reason than she had a reason to smirk was a welcomed change.

Never mistake, Setsuna was not a cold person, far from that, in fact she was very congenial, and if someone needed to talk to her she would always listen. And her unsurpassed rapport with Chibiusa and Hotaru (children in general) were quite a sight to watch. The thing was that as happy, content, and friendly as she was and tended to be around those she lived with and considered friends, there was a notable wall to her. It was fine and perhaps thinner than anyone thought it was, but it was there. And behind that wall were the things that she just could never give up or share about herself with other people.

She was in the deepest sense one of Time's greatest paradoxes. For she could tell you certainly that she had in fact died when she stopped Time and saved Sailor Uranus's and Sailor Neptune's lives. And she could tell you how strange it was to meet her self on a bus and pass along everything that she was. That she existed at every moment in Time at the front of Time's Gates, and yet she was in Tokyo sharing a house with the Outer Senshi.

It was all truth. It was all the complications of Time and how as its guardian, Setsuna, was allowed extreme leverage so that she might better perform her duty.

Setsuna was Time's Guardian.

She was Time's most beautiful paradox.

She was the saddest person you could meet with a smile and wink in her eye.

She was reborn, and yet had lived for such a long span that even she could not rightly recall what her actual beginning was.

She had many beginnings. She had many endings.

She would always return.

And she would always smirk for an unusual amount of time for no apparent reason after having had lunch with Mamoru and seeing her future and past selves doing the same.

The autumn was fading into winter. And Setsuna was just putting her things down when there was a knock at her bedroom door. She thought briefly how wonderful it was that Time should cycle so ceaselessly, that every season was eternal and yet had an end. It was wonderful because it meant as the winter slunk across the city she would be able to do, what Time would only allow her to do a total of ten times.

This would be the second.

Setsuna placed her palm on the doorknob and by all accounts she thought she knew what she would see when she opened it. But that was not entirely the case, as she turned the knob and pulled the door open. Her eyes meet with those of the same color, but sadder and lonelier than she ever remembered seeing herself. She stepped back but the doppelganger grabbed at her wrist and pulled her through the door, which no longer led to the hallway in the house but was filled with a thick fog colored in greens and maroons, silvers and blues.

"What has happened," Setsuna asked the stronger and sadder reflection of her self.

"It is what has not happened, Pluto that is the cause of our distress."

Time is never kind to me  
But I have no fear of its grasp  
I always pass through it like water  
It is all I am  
It is what it has made me  
And it is fickle, and it is cruel  
Though it wavers and threatens to move off its course  
It has made me a promise  
It gives me to you

The hand that had held her wrist so tightly to pull her into the domain of Time vanished like a whisper upon the fog. Setsuna was left alone to walk to where she instinctively knew she needed to be, and as she walked she noted that she had transformed, leaving her more domestic clothing behind for her uniform as a soldier of the Moon Kingdoms.

She walked slowly through the corridors that only she could navigate, for the space was not constructed of anything truly solid that could mark a persons place. There was only the resounding silence and swirl of color that presented itself as the essence of what Time should be if it were actually a place. But Time is never so concrete that it could ever be pegged as a place, or a thing. It was never meant to be solid.

She walked on and in the distance far back and approaching her from other entrances were three shadows that held her form. Three brushes of dark color that became clearer as she moved closer to her destination, the Center of Time.

The center was unlike any other part of her domain, for the center was the only part of Time not represented as a swirling colored mass of fog. The center was a large white marble circular floor with four towering marble columns that reached up into an endless oblivion of fog, light, and color. It was perhaps a mapping of the universe. It was perhaps just another doorway into the center. Only one knew what the oblivion truly was and where the columns reached, but she would never share that secret, not with anyone.

She finally came to the center and stood between two of the pillars, and watched expectantly as the three shadowy forms of her self did the same. She could tell by the look of each from which period in her life they had emerged from. There was an odd sense of foreboding among the three as they looked upon her, and she felt as if she had done something wrong. As if she, in her own place along the timeline, had made a grievous error.

The oldest in appearance arched an eyebrow and spoke first. She was from the far future and her voice held an echo of pain and loss beyond reproach, "You all, no doubt, are aware of why this meeting must occur." She paused and then shook her head, "Ah but I am wrong. You Setsuna, you of the most present moment are unaware of the damage that has been done."

The other two images of her self glared at her sharply.

Far future spoke again, "It wasn't you… it was… well, we think it was her, but we are uncertain."

"Her who," Setsuna finally asked for she could read nothing from those around her, and even Time seemed to shield itself from her view. She wanted to cheat and peer back to discover the mystery, but nothing would allow it. A greater force than she was well at work.

The self to her right grimaced and stated, "She whom we cherish."

"She, whom we most love," the self to the left replied in kind.

"She for who Time has allowed us the greatest of gifts. For before we met her you must remember-"

Setsuna interrupted the far future quickly, "We were not meant for a true loves calling."

And with the ending of the statement all four bowed their heads in memory of the beginning of things, and the complete exile of their hearts, as all the gods of Time stood before them warning of the cost of loving. Those made of time were not meant for such things, for being made of something with no real end and no true beginning they could never be truly tied to a destiny, or a fate. They existed for the ordering of chaos, and whatever emotions they might gain from keeping the play of the universe in motion were but torments of the things they could never truly keep… And there was no torture crueler than that of love. For what was love to Time but an odd occurrence of evolutionary necessity?

But Time was a strange thing, and while it was cruel never let it be said that it was not also kind. For it could feel in its shallowness, darkness, light and chilled order of chaos the weight that grew in the heart of its guardian, a deep and fervent longing that could not be ignored even by such an undefined thing as Time. And for that it was gifted to Time's Guardian alone a love that would be eternal and serve as a paradoxical shift in the rules granted but the number of ten times, and no more and no less. The number could not be explained. It had risen from the void of Time a strange and cherished bobble.

The memory passed and the four opened their eyes, each of them awash in lonesomeness and a hunger for the one they held so dear and true. Then Sailor Pluto from the far future stepped into the very center of Time abandoning her place between the columns and she spoke.

"What has been undone must be put right because as things are now the timeline suffers. The thing that is gone astray is small and minute, a detail so vexingly simple that it would seem trite."

"Nothing in Time is trite," Pluto to the left stated and stepped into the center completely replacing the form of the Sailor Pluto from the far future.

"Nothing we touch is ever trite," Pluto to the right echoed and then she too stepped into the center replacing the version that had previously stood in the same place.

There was a beckoning in her eyes that called out to Setsuna, something primal and all encompassing that could not be avoided. And so taking that call to heart, she mended the rules she had broken by appearing in Time's great halls as multiple versions of herself and stepped into the center of Time.

She took a deep breath.

She closed her eyes and tried not to brace herself for what was about to come.

A great and blinding light broke out up through the center of Time. It shot upward and out between the columns and when it finally dissipated into a calm darkness Sailor Pluto, the Guardian of Time vanished with it.

Under the pale of this sky  
The vanishing current of one day to another  
I look to the depths of the darkest void I know  
I cry into to it and my heart becomes heavy with sorrow  
Must I wait so long for you to return  
I would that I could hold you forever  
But the darkness echoes back  
It comforts as it chides  
For am I promised...  
I shall see you again

To be continued...


	2. Under the Pale of a Vanishing World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time is a strange thing. Time has unlimited paradoxes. Time has made a promise to its guardian, Sailor Pluto.

Time is the ordering of chaos and while there are many through out the worlds and universes that claim other wise, it was not created by mortals. It was only named by them. Time happened; it occurred even when it was called nothing because Time is in effect merely change and growth, the simple passage of one event to another. Everything changes; it is one of the constant movements of the universes. But mortals had to call it something so that it would make sense to them and in the course of having to name the phenomenon unwittingly gave Time something that no other creatures could. They gave it a will of sorts, making Time through its ordered randomness usher forth paradoxes in the form of anthropomorphic personifications. In other words, it allowed the creation of gods, guardians, and other unstable things that could "control" it, "protect" it, and even "destroy" it. A startling thing since it really can not, will not, and does not need to be controlled, protected, or destroyed.

Time is strange. It has no true voice or personality and yet there are certain things and aspects of itself that it seems to favor over others. If it had the true capacity it would find that it was (and possibly still is) proud of its allowing the creation of Sailor Pluto, known also as Setsuna Meioh. Never had there been a being more capable of understanding (even if that understanding was but a single drop of water in a vast ocean) Time with its quirks, paradoxes, and frequent snubs at being labeled perfectly ordered.

Being favored though, however unaware of it Setsuna was, came at a price. And the cost was a heavy set of rules with admonishing attachments such as, "Do not break this rule or you will die." Even with the cost of her duty firmly on her mind she found that under certain circumstances Time's rules were made to be broken. It did not mean she enjoyed the moments when she had to break those rules. It also did not mean she enjoyed the overwhelming breadth and scope that her powers contained and allowed her to do.

There was a price to be paid for everything in life.

At the moment the price she was paying was a staggering headache for having combined into her other selves and jumping straight through the center of Time to land... Well she was just about to find out.

This was the most unpleasant part of the entire experience, which was why she hardly ever used the Center of Time. It was, in effect, much quicker to go to the center and then jump to when she wanted or needed to be, but the pace of it had a tendency to turn her stomach slightly.

Her eyes were still closed and she was certain she could feel solid ground beneath her feet but that did not mean she was actually on solid ground. The problem was quite simply that in its center Time was at its peek. It was all that Time could be and that meant that Time knew exactly when Setsuna needed to be (even if she did not), but Time hardly took the notion to know exactly where she needed to be. This would lead, on the very few occasions that she moved from the center, to some interesting experiences. For example there was one occasion where she found herself standing in mid-air like a confused cartoon character that had run too far out towards a cliff's edge. Time got it mostly right though, she was only ever just slightly off when she arrived. She just preferred having more control over the exact when and where she was going to end up.

With a slow breath she reached out her hands and found, when she gradually opened her eyes, she was clutching desperately to a marble balcony railing. And also, to her great relief, noted that she was indeed standing on the balcony and not hanging over it. Just because she tended to be cool, calm, and collected most of the time did not mean she was incapable of moments of embarrassment. She just usually had those moments when no one else was around to see them.

She looked out from the balcony to a gorgeous view of the Earth, a hazy almost pale blue light spilling from it to illuminate her surroundings. Her grip on the railing loosened and she looked down to see the swirl of the Moon's silver ocean crashing below. She smirked and then turned around. Behind her she could see inside of the palace through two large and elaborately decorated glass doors. A grand celebration was going on inside, a masked ball.

She watched the people carefully and then quickly noticed that she was not in her uniform any longer. She was wearing instead a dark maroon gown which occasionally sparkled in the light as if it were delicately brushed with stardust. There was a time, a section of her life she called her happiest, when that dress had been her favorite article of clothing. She recalled briefly how there were moments when she just prayed for a party to attend so that she could wear it, after all, she had designed it herself. And she had designed another one that was pale silver and-

Memories quickly snapped to attention and the exact when and where became perfectly clear to her. Well, perhaps not exactly perfect. She should not have been in that dress. She should have remained in her uniform. Being in that dress meant-

"I'm going to hate me in the morning," she whispered with some chilled recollection. There was not a real problem. It was just that in her jump through the center she had completely replaced her past self, who was going to wake up very confused and with a migraine she would not have wished upon her worst enemies once everything was all sorted out and back in proper place. It bothered her slightly that things had occurred in that manner. She was used to being able to exist as multiple versions of herself at any point in Time. She could never do such a thing for an extended period but it could be done.

She let out a long breath and looked to her left quickly picking up the mask that she knew was going to be there. She brought it to her face and entered into the thrall of the event.

Something was terribly wrong with the way everything was laying out before her, but for a small plus side the headache she had was dying away. That fact failed to make her any more comfortable with her present situation though.

Moving shadows  
We take turns as if in a dance  
We think these movements our own  
But nothing we touch is left to chance  
There are rules to each thing  
Motions that must be made  
We must dance to the time  
To the rhythm that Destiny has laid

Setsuna's breath caught slightly as she moved through the crowd and observed the grandeur and splendor that surrounded her. Never had there been or would there be a place as wondrous as what the people of the Moon had spent near eons perfecting, a civilization of peace, beauty, and elegance. It was not so much a utopia, as it was an Eden. It had its failings as anything mortal made tends to have but it stood out as the best that could be achieved by mortals. Even gods had to admit they were impressed with it.

It was difficult to be back. Memory stirred emotions that had taken Setsuna decades of guarding the Gates of Time to heal. She kept herself as she always did, stoic and cool in the face of knowing the destruction that waited for the kingdom. Destruction that was about ten years off, and how long those years would seem, how wonderfully peace filled and uncaring the days would slip by. She bit at the inside of her mouth when she began to feel guilty. If there was a way she could have stopped it she would have, but Time would have none of it. Time in its vastness would glare back at her and chide that even such greatness, such marvelous achievement had to undergo change.

Nothing was forever.

Everything changed.

"And the price paid is but the memory of what was," she muttered under her breath as she reached one of the many tables laid out with refreshments.

She took a piece of fruit from off of a platter and popped it into her mouth. Her eyes swept across the room for any signs of distress. What had her other selves said? The change would be small. It would be something that others would regard as trite. It would-

There was a sudden blare of trumpets ushering forth a fan fare. She looked towards the large marbled staircase that led down into the ballroom and took a breath for the one that she was going to miss. It felt too soon for this, but then she remembered, she had been out on the balcony.

The party was in celebration of a recent agreement to peace between the Earth and the Moon. It was to be the end of bad blood that began with a simple misunderstanding (and the bad blood would return again, the treaty would mean nothing in ten years). Setsuna had taken to the balcony for fresh air after she had had a brief disagreement about the arranged marriage that went along with the treaty. She remembered thinking that it was unfair, and then regretting that argument heavily because it had nothing to do with fairness and everything to do with duty. She never had to be reminded about that. Duty was sometimes all she had. It was the only thing that was so constant that change seemed leave it alone solely on principle.

The fanfare played on and the royal courts from around the solar system slowly began to descend the staircase, all the planets represented there in all their glittering grandeur.

"Except Pluto," a woman near her muttered. "The Plutonians never come to these events."

"Why not," the woman's companion asked lightly.

"Because," the woman began softly with wisps of anxiety in her voice, "looking at them is like looking into the face of Death."

Her maroon eyes shut briefly and she fought the need to turn around and face the two behind her. She wanted to tell the truth, but knew better of it and pushed up through the crowd and away from them. For the truth was simply that people from her planet just preferred the solace of their world. It was so easy a thing that so many just took as something else. It made her a little sad in a way.

The Earth delegation finished entering and shortly after followed the court of the Moon. And after the court was the queen's personal guard, all hand picked maidens from each of the planets in the solar system. In all technicalities she herself was considered one of the royal guards but she never processed. People tended to worry greatly if they saw her in an official capacity. They tended to fear her for everything she knew of Time, and she never understood it but took the excuse to avoid too much public exposure. She had always preferred a mild amount of anonymity. It kept things simple and in perspective. It had kept her distant but not distant enough.

She often wondered if she would have been better off if she had never introduced herself to anyone. Would she have been a more capable guardian if she had never let herself become attached to the royal family? If she had never become friendly with the Outer Senshi, would her duty be less of a burden if there was only herself and Time?

The answer was always, perhaps. But the questions seemed silly to ask since there was no turning back. There was no changing what she had chosen as her life. There was only the path she was on and the duty she knew she had freely accepted.

Her heart began to beat rapidly at the sudden change in the trumpeting. The notes transformed into something that was more regal, and stately. It was a sound that announced greatness and beauty. It was all she could do not to rush up the steps and do something completely foolish. She wished she could be foolish. She wished as her heart broke over and over again in rapid succession with each step down into the ballroom Queen Serenity took.

No stopping Time, Setsuna thought, No halting what is to come for her. No grand rescue that can be preformed to bring her back. There is only Time's promise. There is only that I have to cling to.

It isn't enough  
What I feel for you and the words I can say  
It isn't enough  
I know our plight  
I know what shall occur  
I lose...  
I lose you  
To Destiny  
To Fate  
To Duty  
To Time  
I lose  
And losing you  
Knowing that I lose you  
Knowing you fade from my grasp  
It isn't enough  
The knowledge can not change anything  
I lose...  
And it isn't enough  
It isn't enough  
To stop my loving you

A small myriad of speeches was given regarding the treaty. Setsuna absently listened to the words, keeping her mask to her face to avoid being seen. She wanted to appreciate the view she was being given. She wanted the moment to last in her mind forever. Hearing Queen Serenity speaking again, and addressing a crowd, keeping them enthralled, she had nearly forgotten what a divine voice the queen had.

As the last words died away and the party was allowed to swing back into action Time's lovely paradox watched the way the queen lingered around the stairs rather than immediately going to her table or taking a dance. Setsuna moved up through the crowd and when she was nearly to the stairs she slowly brought the mask away from her face. She was unsure if she was seen by any of the others. She took a second to collect her emotions, to make sure she appeared as she should, calm and cool.

"Majesty," she said as she tapped the queen on her shoulder. She had to do this. She had to say the following words. They were important. They meant so much to her. Her past self would never forgive her if she forgot.

Serenity turned around and smiled broadly. She looked as if she was half ready to throw her arms around the taller woman, but then suddenly remembered she was supposed to be dignified. She politely nodded giving Time's Guardian permission to continue speaking.

"Will you dance tonight?"

"Perhaps... Is that all you needed to ask me?"

"You were right."

A cheeky grin began to drift across the woman's lips, "Is that so?"

She straightened herself and cleared her throat. Even as she was, with all her knowledge of what was to come, she still found it hard to admit that she was wrong. She continued, "It is so. I...over reacted."

The queen looked as though she was tremendously pleased and then her expression changed to something more somber and slightly confused. "You...You appear to be different tonight Lady Pluto."

"Do I?"

"You look... older."

No, Setsuna thought, what you are seeing is that I look younger. I died Serenity. I died doing exactly what you said I would do. Do you remember that?

She pushed her long evergreen hair off her shoulders and said, "Must be the lighting."

"Must it," she paused and then smiled broadly, "I think I will away to my table and... if I have the chance, perhaps...Perhaps we can manage that dance."

Setsuna made a slight bow and watched as Queen Serenity moved off towards her table. She kept a close eye and noted that something caught the queen's attention making her wander off towards the right, towards the balcony doors.

"That," Setsuna whispered shakily, "That is not right."

Very quickly the Guardian of Time moved towards the shadows she pulled out a small key that she kept secured by the strap of her gown. She moved the key into the darkness, turning it as if she were opening a door and a section of swirling green and purple fog appeared. She stepped into it and vanished, leaving behind the party and the shadows that had been there.

Under the pale of a vanishing world  
In the longing hours between my dreams and waking  
There is a memory of you standing  
Walking towards another  
Venturing away from my heart  
The robes are clad in black  
The smile a toothy grin  
It is a specter I can not defeat  
An image that has no waking  
A moment that can not be stopped  
Under the pale of a vanishing world  
Comes what even the strongest of loves  
Can not hope to defeat  
All I have  
All I can do  
Is think of a promise made to me  
I think of what Time can give  
And I know I will see you again

There is no sound in Time. Everything is hushed and noiseless, but it seemed that there was indeed the hurried utterance of movement passing through Time's great halls.

She ignored the fact that her shoes were actually making a barely audible clicking noise and kept walking. She turned a few times as if venturing down a separate passage way, though there were no true walls. She came to an abrupt halt and transformed out of her gown and into her uniform. A key ring dangled from her side and she removed it from her belt searching desperately until at last she found the key she was looking for.

It was oddly shaped. It did not look like it was actually a key, though its place on her belt informed of its purpose. She took it off the ring and inserted it into the swirling, colored vapors of Time. She turned it clockwise once and then counterclockwise a number of five times. There was a tiny popping sound and an actual wooden door appeared and opened.

She reached inside of it and pulled out her staff. Then she shut the door took the key and turned it again clockwise at first and then counterclockwise until the door opened again.

She stepped back from it and did a quick move spinning the staff in a dramatic and deadly fashion. When she brought it down it made a heavy sound, like large weights falling onto concrete. A thin smile perked at the corner of her mouth. She took a deep breath, removed the key from the door, put it on the key ring, placed the key ring back onto her belt, and stepped through the door.

It shut with a very loud thud.

"I take no pity on those who dare threaten my domain," Setsuna's voice rang out through Time. It echoed and bounced off the corridors.

To be continued...


	3. Under the Pale of a Vanishing World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time is a strange thing. Time has unlimited paradoxes. Time has made a promise to its guardian, Sailor Pluto.

She was angry. Her rage at such presumption burned behind her eyes a dark smoldering fire of maroon. Most made the mistake of thinking that the one Senshi no one should ever bring to anger was Mars, or perhaps even Uranus, but those people had never seen Sailor Pluto when she was enraged. It was not an easy thing to do. She kept her cool because her powers where such that any wavering in her mental state reflected itself through Time. Her anger in particular made Time an almost solid thing, heavy with lasting repercussions.

There had been only a few instances when her temper over took her, and the results had been messy to say the least. She preferred not to think about those rare instances. She had worked so hard her entire existence to keep everything in perspective, but some things were just too hard to bear. And at the moment she was fighting arduously not to let her feelings get in the way of her ultimate objective in life.

Her duty was to protect Time. Everything else was secondary to that one great task. However she may feel about what such a tiny thing would cause, and however much pain and sorrow that slip in the timeline may cause she still had a duty to perform. She still had to mend the wrong doing, and she had to do it in a way that would not further disturb the ebb and flow of Time.

She took a deep breath and released it. She found a moment of calm and with that was able to go to work. She reminded herself that there was a reason why she merely whispered her attack, rather than shouting it. She made herself recall what would happen if she lost control. She forced her self to look at the destruction, and looking brought her to her senses. Looking cooled the excruciating flames of hatred and desire for revenge.

Mars may have been all fire. But Pluto was all Time, and Time burned straight through everything.

She snapped her fingers and left behind her past mistakes, appearinging back on the Moon Kingdom.

Now she had a better understanding of why she had replaced her past self. It was because a slightly more future self was already there...watching. It was one thing for her to exist twice in one place; that was easy. It was existing more than that which made things difficult. The only place it was really easy was at the Center of Time. All technicalities aside though everything made much more sense than it had.

Sailor Pluto stood in mid-air over the party, invisible to all, including her self. She was breaking an uncountable amount of rules in the process but, as she had discovered, many of Time's rules were made to be broken.

She watched the scene play out before her once.

Queen Serenity turned right to go out onto the balcony.

She was not supposed to go to the balcony. She was supposed to turn around, smile at Pluto, and then find her self dragged into a long and dull conversation with a member of the Jupiter delegation.

Pluto sighed and pointed her staff towards the scene. "Move back," she said softly.

And the entire moment moved in reverse to the beginning.

"Move slowly."

And the moment drew forward in slow motion.

"Slower," she whispered.

The movement of the scene slowed even more.

"Slower."

By now it was hard to tell that anything was moving at all. Her eyes scanned the room.

"Slower."

The people below her seemed to be frozen in Time, but they were not.

The rules forbade her from stopping Time. However, she was more than capable of moving it to her will when it was absolutely necessary. She could move it along as fast or as slow a she needed. As long as everything kept moving she was in the clear from any ramifications.

She stepped down into the crowd and stood next to the queen who was looking to her right. Pluto followed the queen's gaze towards the balcony doors. Her eyes narrowed as she caught the glimpse of a shadow that had no business being there.

She snapped her fingers and vanished; as she disappeared the moment resumed flowing at a more natural pace.

Under the dark  
Set deep in shadow  
With all the malice that is left behind  
What you believe to be revenge  
What you believe to be righteous  
It is but the sad cry of a spoiled child  
When it is compared to the suffering I have known  
You presume much in daring this act  
You think yourself clever for having found away around me  
Under the dark  
In the vast voids of black and seething  
Wet and dripping fears  
The thing you rebel against  
The thing you wish to change  
It is nothing compared to what is to come  
Remember...  
Always remember...  
There are worse things than you  
There are worse things that Time can brew

"Show me the entire course of events," Setsuna commanded in a barely noticeable whisper.

She stood at the Center of Time in between two of the four columns that helped to define that space. Directly across the way images sprang to life and she watched horror struck at the damage such a simple act as turning the wrong direction caused.

"Stop... Stop this!"

The images faded.

"That is quite enough," she muttered. "That is completely unnecessary."

After a few moments of thinking she began to ask questions that made no true sound. As she asked each query an image would appear and she would watch it expressionless for a moment and then ask something else. She continued along this course until at last she turned away from the center and walked off into a mass of colored fog that matched her eyes.

She called her staff to her and it appeared in her hands.

She stopped abruptly and held out her staff to a cluster of collecting mists. White light in the shape of a doorway appeared and she stepped through it with true purpose behind her steps.

She reappeared on the balcony railing of the Moon's palace, which she stood upon. She arched an eyebrow crossing her arms in an irritated manner as she peered into the shadows and caught sight of the form she had seen earlier.

"I see you there," she said. "I would highly suggest you come out willingly."

The figure in the shadows appeared to sneer.

"I had a feeling I would be seeing you again Sailor Pluto," the figure stated. The voice was female and sinister.

"Out of the shadows please," Pluto commanded again.

"I'm afraid you'll have to catch me first."

There was a sudden crease of light that came from the shadows and then the figured disappeared.

Maroon eyes narrowed, "You would be the only to dare me into a game like this. Your presumptions make me sick."

Sailor Pluto snapped her fingers. As she vanished Queen Serenity stepped out onto the balcony. A sudden sharp pain in her side made her start. She turned just quickly enough to see harsh ruby red eyes glaring back her. Then she collapsed as death took her.

Don't think I do not feel the sting  
Though I've no tears in my eyes  
You can not possibly know what you have done to me  
You can not comprehend the fractures that appear  
As my heart, as my soul  
Crumbles under the weight of everything I have lost  
Don't think I do not understand loss  
Do not presume I can not feel pain  
So deep that it cuts into my existence  
What is my purpose if I do not have this  
Why continue  
Why move on  
Oh believe me I have known sorrow  
I have felt it ripping through me like shards of glass  
Deep abrasions with salt ground in  
And the red in my veins washing over into the oceans  
This feeling...  
This agony...  
It is a dead scream in the darkness  
And it will stretch out across the worlds  
Until every soul understands it completely  
Deeply  
Utterly  
And divinely  
For the rest of Time

Sailor Pluto appeared amid the desolate ruins of the Moon Kingdom. It was the moment right after Serenity had used the Silver Crystal to send Queen Metalia and her ilk back through the far reaches of space. Right after the queen had sent her daughter's soul back to the Earth to be reborn along with the girl's true love and personal guards. The destruction felt so senseless. There was only one person to truly blame for it and that woman was standing mere feet away.

"Admiring your handy work," Pluto said coolly.

The woman turned to face the Senshi. Her ruby red eyes gleaming with triumph, a sickening smirk spread across her lips, and then she laughed.

"Why is it funny?"

The woman stopped and smiling said, "This isn't my handy work Pluto. You know it isn't. The crystal did all this. It was the price she paid in trying to save her daughter."

"Were it not for you it would not have come to this."

"You think so," her eyes narrowed and she delicately removed a strand of red curly hair from her face, pushing it back behind her ear. "Miss me Pluto, or should I call you-"

"You shall address me as Sailor Pluto or Lady Pluto," was the sharp interruption.

"Despite any past we may have had you have destroyed all rights to refer to me in a familiar manner."

The woman shrugged and then held up her hand. A small golden key on a matching chain dangled from it.

"Do you think yourself clever for what you have done?"

"No, Pluto I think myself victorious. How could you have allowed such a small bobble to wander about unattended? When I found it I was simply amazed."

"You waited to use it; that is what amazes me."

Setsuna was gripping her staff tightly. Despite all her efforts she could feel her anger growing inside her with every word spoken and heard. She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. The woman was waiting for her to attack and she just could not give in to such a blatant request for violence.

"If I had used it on a bigger scale you would have noticed much sooner what was going on. I couldn't have you doing that."

"Metalia-"

The woman scoffed, "You don't honestly take me for that much of a fool do you? I've gained my victory and without that thing's help. I'm not about to ruin things by awakening her to over take the Moon. She wanted too much. I just want the world, and now...I have it."

She closed her eyes and shook her head, "You have disrupted the timeline. You have caused a rift in the fabric of reality and Time will not allow you to succeed any further!"

"You're so damn cocky. You always have been when it comes to this type of thing. Wake up! I've already succeeded. All that's left is you and you are too weak to do what you really have to."

"And what is that?"

"Kill me before I can even start all this mess."

Sailor Pluto took a step forward and planted her staff in the ground, "You are unbelievably simple. Killing you is not in my destiny. Destroying you and Metalia is a task that is set for the princess."

The woman's eye twitched, "The little brat. She was an undeserving opponent. Her mother insulted me by not using the crystal to kill me."

"It was not in her heart to do so. Even to you... Even after what you put her through." She drew her staff out of the ground, "Come with me willingly Beryl or face the consequences for tampering with fate."

"Do you think...," she held out the key and turned it in the air. "Do you think you can beat me to my next destination?"

There was a flare of light and then Beryl disappeared.

"Of course," Setsuna whispered sullenly, "I have the master key."

To be continued...


	4. Under the Pale of a Vanishing World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time is a strange thing. Time has unlimited paradoxes. Time has made a promise to its guardian, Sailor Pluto.

Setsuna sat on the toppled obsidian monument with her eyes closed as her thoughts drifted into the past. She wandered as far back a she could dare remember without losing herself. She had purposely arrived at least five minutes before Beryl in order to make peace with her surroundings before flying into battle. It had been thousands of years since she had last been in that place.

The planet was desolate now, void of life save the remainders of the old civilization. Except for the Earth all the planets looked like that. All were in ruins under the weight of the battle with the Dark Kingdom and then finally with the vanishing of the gods. In all respects the gods never really vanished, and they did not actually die. They had merely fallen into the slumber of disbelief. She knew that one day in the future, so far-flung she could barely see it, the gods would once again wake and the solar system would be in a state of bliss as it had during the time of the Moon Kingdom. But that future, that piece of destiny was lost to the present situation. One misstep, one wrong turn towards a balcony ensured that the old gods would never again wake to their former glory.

She tried not to let the thought cause her sorrow. She would put things right. She would do her duty.

Her eyes opened, soft and languid pools of maroon so deep they begged to be drunk in like the richest of wines. She looked up into the face of the giant statues that stood behind her, cracked and ripe with devastation and she whispered something that could have been a prayer. It spoke of duty, and it spoke of how it had always been inherent to her destiny.

"Destiny and duty," she said to one statue in particular, "Those things you never had any trouble with. Of all your kin you were always the only one who fully understood it. Even she in all her trying and loving you could not fully accept it sometimes could she... father, Lord Hades?"

Of all her beginnings she regarded being born on Pluto as one of her very first. There were others, distant and barely caught in the veil of recollection, and they reached beyond the beginning of the gods. But Pluto and the people she had encountered there she regarded as very special to her. The Time she was allowed there stuck in her memories like no other place could, except perhaps the Moon and the Earth. She had been the daughter of the god of the under world and the goddess of the seasons. Death and the turning of the seasons, which was practically the turning of Time, those were the things she carried in her blood. And her blood remembered those things so well she felt as if perhaps she had always been made of them. Whatever the case Pluto had a been a place she once called home, and while there were moments she had looked into Hades eyes and found that he could only see her as Time's child, she knew deep within his heart that he hoped desperately she would be granted a different destiny. She knew he had loved her as his precious little girl.

She felt a pang of guilt at not regarding her parents on Earth so dearly. It was harder to do though because they had not lived very long after her birth.

She stood from where she was sitting. Beryl would be coming very soon.

Setsuna turned to face the statues and said, "Beginnings and endings... I've been given many, but it was here I think...that I learned to appreciate each one I that was given."

"That was beautiful, Setsuna. Really, I think I could almost cry," a snide female voice edged in from behind.

She turned quickly eyes narrowed, "You may not address me by that name."

Beryl grinned, "Oh but what is in a name? I wouldn't think it should matter to you. After all you have titles to spare."

Sailor Pluto gritted her teeth and then instantly shut her eyes to try and control her feelings.

"If you hold your anger in it will only make it worse when you do finally lose control," the red head beamed. "I congratulate you on beating me here by the way."

"It was not hard to figure out. You have a nasty reputation for playing on others emotions."

"A talent that developed after years of having mine played."

Pluto moved into a guarded stance and smirked as she said, "It's funny you should mention that because I wanted to ask you, just once... Was it really because you loved him? Is all of this because you could not have him?"

It tastes so bitter  
The words I can not hear  
The things you will never say to me  
I want your sweetness  
I need that kindness  
But it all strips away into darkness  
It all washes under the current  
That this feeling leaves coating my throat  
It tastes so bitter and I thought you were sweet  
It tastes so vile and I wanted you sweet  
The taste changes my feelings and they are hard to swallow  
This soured thing...  
This black pit  
But I wanted it so...  
So sweet

Beryl frowned briefly and then grinned as she brought her hand up. Five crystals floated around her palm and then moved into the air multiplying as they went. The crystals hovered in waiting for her next command. The Senshi eyed them and then focused back onto her opponent

"You bring him up as if he was my only defining factor," the dark queen said almost laughing, half insulted. Ruby red eyes narrowed and she grinned, her fangs practically bit into her lower lip. She shook her head and then said, "We haven't the time for playful banter as I would like, but no...No he was not my all consuming reason. I mentioned before having my emotions played. Metalia picked up on my feelings for him. They were much, much easier for her to understand in her state and I think anyone would jump to that conclusion considering the way I went about things with the little brat. But then why would anyone else consider my other reasons? Why would anyone be able to tap into something so guarded as my true feelings?"

Beryl did not wait for a response and closed her still open hand into a tight fist. The crystals in the air rained down at a momentous speed stabbing into anything they happened to touch. Pluto managed to deflect a number of them with her staff but for the most part did what she could to dodge the onslaught.

Next, Setsuna thought, next she will start to raise the rubble to throw at me...but that would be a serious mistake considering where we are.

As she thought the ground beneath her feet began to shake and large portions of the land began to rise into the air. Her foe was calm and patiently waiting.

"I know, you think I'm foolish for fighting you here," Beryl said calmly. "But why haven't you used that attack of yours yet? I thought you wanted to provide me with some justice, but you're purposely letting me toy with you. It's utterly hopeless you know. You've seen what happens."

Hunks of rock and dirt began their sudden and vicious attack towards the spot where Pluto had been waiting. She seized the moment and jumped up onto a giant slab, barely dodging another barrage of crystals as she used her staff to vault herself closer to the sinister woman. She landed on the toppled statue of Hades and spun her staff to deflect more crystals. She shut her eyes and collected her power.

"Dead scream," Sailor Pluto whispered in a very controlled and nearly inaudible tone.

The pieces of the land that Beryl controlled began to turn on her, but she merely smirked and held them back, almost without effort.

They stood locked in battle for a few moments more and then Pluto closed her eyes and vanished. Beryl's attack flung itself at the spot where the elegant warrior was in an avalanche of rock and dirt. The evil ruler of the dark kingdom laughed victoriously, suddenly stopped short as her breath was squeezed by the powerful feel of Pluto's staff at her throat.

"How-" Beryl tried to speak but the grasp she was in was too strong.

"You have really insulted me by daring to enter my domain and destroy me. You are over confident in your powers over earth," Setsuna whispered sharply into the villain's ear. "I should banish you into the far reaches of Time and have you vainly attempt the walk back to where you belong. I should strangle the life out of you for the injury your little tryst has caused to me."

The grip about her neck loosened and the red head replied, "But you won't will you. You can't. You are bound-"

The strangle hold tightened up again and the woman gasped.

Deep merlot colored eyes darkened and the sound of the Senshi's voice grew to something heavy, "I am bound by my duty, not that you understand what that means. You should count yourself lucky that I am not quick to anger. You should feel blessed that I understand my place in the Universe, because the revenge I could inflict upon you for your actions towards the Moon Kingdom alone would be enough to make even the gods weep."

"Will you? Will you do it Setsuna?" The tone was all loss and pleading. It was thick with the sound of someone who had spent a lifetime doing nothing but wrong and finally wished for retribution.

"What?" Her grip loosened.

She had to move to look into the ruby red eyes of her foe, eyes whose brightness were dulling to the color of blood, and were stung with regret. Eyes that were so sad and lost in darkness that even she, the Guardian of Time, could not help but feel great pity. That kind of loneliness was something she could feel deeply. It was something that stung at her from the echoes of Time. It prodded at her past, in those years before she became Time's Guardian again.

Before she could do anything further Pluto called the delinquent key into her hands. She placed it around her neck and then struck her staff into ground as a void of darkness rose up and wrapped up around both women.

Under the hush of this silent flight  
I seek only the truth tonight  
I want to fall under your rage  
I need to know your vengeance will catch me in its cage  
I have lingered on the thought of this moment  
This pull into our greater fates  
I swallow all the bitter edges  
The sharp cuts of your rejection  
All the hate you carry with you  
Under the harsh sting of this anger  
I wait for the silence that will come  
The endless sound of your tears upon my face  
The patter of rain on a grave no one would dare mourn  
I have lost you  
I always lose you  
To fate  
To destiny  
To time  
To a love you could never see passed  
You could never see me  
But I have one thing  
I've this tiny chance  
It is what Time can offer  
It is but a passing glance  
And the promise bittersweet  
That once again we should meet

They stood in complete darkness; or rather the place where they stood was void of color. There was no light and yet they could clearly see each other. Sailor Pluto was at ease in the space, but Beryl looked around bewildered by the surroundings.

"Where are we?"

"We are in the space between Time. It is a section of nothing between Time. It is a place of creation where the next moment folds into existence."

"And where-"

"This empty space occurs the second before Sailor Moon destroys both you and Metalia."

The red head seemed to resist what would have been her natural reaction of pure anger at defeat. She shrunk in her place.

Pluto arched an eyebrow and sighed. She pushed away her staff until it vanished so she could cross her arms over her chest.

"I don't know how you managed it and frankly I do not care to know. The fact that you could squeeze out of Metalia's grasp to avoid destruction is highly impressive, especially considering that you had combined yourself into her. But that you would dare attempt to tamper with things in Time can not be forgiven. You could have just escaped and found another life for yourself."

"The only life I wanted was the one I could not have, Setsuna," Beryl returned softly, understanding her defeat.

"Why do you insist upon calling me that?"

"It's your name, and it suits you best. It always did. There was a time you did not mind hearing it from me."

Her voice and her eyes pleaded for the recognition and the Senshi could do nothing but concede, "You destroyed any right you ever had to that name. You decided to walk a path of destruction and use your gift, all that wonderful power... you squandered it. Your jealousy blinded you and kept you from seeing all the other people and things that could love you the way you wanted."

"I didn't want their love!" Hot rage built up inside her visible in her eyes, the tension of her muscles and then dying, as her despair and defeat took her over again, "I wanted you... "

She could not cry. She dared not cry. She wanted so badly to cry. To take the broken woman up in her arms and say she was sorry that fate should be so cruel, but she could not. Just like Beryl, everything Setsuna felt was buried in the color of her eyes. And she was sorry, she felt guilty, but anything she felt could not undo what had been. It would not change the way things would end, and it would certainly not stop Beryl from turning to the call of evil. All those choices, all those roads could only be walked and arranged by the woman herself. There was hardly anything she could say, but she found a few words.

"Your sins are great and your crimes are many, but do not think that you can pass the blame for your choices on something so trite. Even I...even after everything that has occurred... Do you know what I could have done after the Dark Kingdom managed to destroy everything I loved?"

Beryl nodded, "I divined it once. It was curious to see you so engulfed with darkness. I'd never seen you look so beautiful. But you chose differently, it's the flaw with divination you know? You can never be sure which way someone will really go, but you can hope."

"I gave you...everything I could at the...the Time."

"Did you? It just wasn't in the cards is that right? You wanted to love me, but could not? Duty over pleasure is that the thing? But no, it wasn't any of that was it? You simply could not love me. It was all young girls' foolish dreams. You may not be fully responsible for my actions but you helped to plant the seed of my darkness."

"I told you all the reasons already Beryl. I gave them to you as gently as I could, and I thought you had understood."

"I understood only that it hurt. I could have almost swallowed the bitterness of losing you, only to have you end up loving Serenity. I could almost understand that. But then her daughter stole his affections and that was just too much to abide with. So I decided no one would be happy. I knew what would happen when I let Metalia control me. I knew how she would play on my feelings. But I also knew you, and I hoped to die by your hands back then. I hope for it still."

Sailor Pluto shook her head and walked over to the woman, placing a hand on her shoulder. A burst of light began to form around them as she whispered, "You don't deserve it."

The light was blinding, radiating across the artic sky. Metalia screeched as her victory was crushed by the power of the Silver Crystal. Deep within her Beryl looked down upon the brat of a princess and wept. She did not even bother to try and offer more help as Metalia screamed for her to do so.

"All our power is gone," she said amid the dominance that irradiated over her, quickly destroying her and freeing her soul. "And like the crystal foretold... our jealousy has destroyed us."

Under the pale of the moon  
I once knew a beautiful woman  
Who gave me all she could  
She gave me pleasures but she couldn't give me love  
Her heart was supped up by another  
Her fate tied to the Moon  
Under the rock of a steady breeze  
I once knew a powerful woman  
Who gave me all she could  
She gave me kisses deep as the night  
But she couldn't give me love  
She couldn't give me love  
So I gave her vengeance  
I gave her a little of my broken heart  
And her agony is my happiness  
And her sorrow is my joy  
And her hatred of me is her love  
Yes I knew a woman  
But she just didn't know me

She stood at the Center of Time and watched the image.

Two young women kissed fervently beneath a large tree as the sun set in the distance and the moon began to rise. The weather was clear and warm and not another soul was near them. They broke the kiss and then sat with each other amid the tall green grass. One was slightly taller than the other with a paler pallor, red hair and eyes the color rubies, and the other had a darker olive complexion, evergreen hair that stretched to her back and eyes like the deepest cup of wine. They watched the last of the color bleed from the sky as the darker blue blacks over took it. The stars came out and they fell into each others arms.

"Do you think it will always be like this, even when I'm queen," the red head asked.

"I think we are better off appreciating the Time we have been given," her companion replied solemnly.

"You have your father's out look on life."

"No, I have his understanding of it."

The red head was going to say something more but she was stopped by a finger to her lips.

"Don't ruin the moment with what the future could bring," the young woman with the maroon eyes said hurriedly.

And then they fell back into the pull of young lust, and the hint of what could have been a great love.

The image faded and Pluto was met with eyes of the same color looking back at her, another self that she had not seen for ages. She sighed and shook her head but the other self spoke before she could even think of a decent question to ask.

"I told you it would not be easy for you. That is why I gave you the choice."

Pluto looked across at the older version of her self and tried not to sound angry, "You offered me a choice when there was none to make. How could you think I would ever refuse?"

"I did not think you would, I wanted to at least let you know that it would not be easy. But however hard it was going to be for you I also knew that you would have a chance for something that I never would."

"What exactly would I have?"

"Love."

She quirked an eyebrow and whispered dryly, "Yes lucky me."

"You can look and see how things would have been if you had said no."

"I have, thank you. Even then she does not choose the right path. We still end up enemies and I think over all it's just as big of a mess as it is now."

"Put aside Beryl for moment and consider the one you really love."

She shut her eyes and bit at her bottom lip. "Anyway I look at it I'm partially responsible for ruining her life. I break her heart and she never recovers."

"It is not like you to brood like this. You said it yourself there were other options open to her. She chose her own path and you my dear did the same. You decided on duty and great responsibility... and because of it you were greatly rewarded."

"What did you choose?"

"I chose destruction. It was a terrible mistake but it was mine to make."

Pluto sighed, "We seem to make those big mistakes every two thousand years or so."

"It's change. As Time does so must we and for the better I would say. You must cherish everything you have been given...even the things you wish you could undo. There are always worse things you could have done."

The other version of her self faded and she was left alone at the center. She took a moment and then straightened herself. She looked into the center and said, "Show me what happens if I take the key Beryl found and place it on the key ring so that it never falls off."

She watched the play of images, her expression void of emotion.

"And if I take it from her when Sailor Moon defeats Metalia?"

A new set of images played through and she shut her eyes sadly. She nearly walked away and then a thought came to her head.

"What if," she asked solidly, "I take the key and move it some place else so that Beryl does not find it?"

The images sprang forth and her exact reaction was hard to read.

"I suppose my course of action is clear then," she whispered and walked off deep into the swirl of Time.

To be continued...


	5. Under the Pale of a Vanishing World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time is a strange thing. Time has unlimited paradoxes. Time has made a promise to its guardian, Sailor Pluto.

The sun shone brightly on the silvery garden and she sat soaking up the warmth listening to the gentle falling of the water from a fountain that was a few leagues off. She had always enjoyed the garden, finding solace in its steady routine of perennial flowers. Her head throbbed with pain and she held her hand over her eyes for a brief moment.

"I suppose the pain means everything has been fixed," she whispered to herself.

She released a breath of relief as quiet footfalls padded into her vicinity. She looked passed her fingers and tried a smile, but it fell as the figure approaching returned the gesture.

Everything about Queen Serenity felt like a trick of the light. It seemed impossible for someone to be so beautiful, both on the inside and outside all at once. She had a shine, an inner light that stretched out and touched people. Setsuna supposed it was because of the woman's passing relation to a goddess, and then understood that such an inner shine, that wondrous glow could come even from people who had no relations to the gods at all. She knew that she did not have that kind of light about her. That kind of beauty was reserved for a very special and select few.

The queen took a seat next to the Senshi and held her hand over her eyes to shade her face from the sun. Her silver hair was arranged in its usual style and she wore a light dress with a pair of practical heels that did not distract from her regal demeanor. She looked out on the flowers and sighed. Then she tilted her head to look at the woman next to her and spoke gently, "You look terrible, love. Having a bit of a rough day?"

"That is a mild understatement," the Time Guardian replied almost sardonic in her tone.

"So," Serenity looked at her more closely, "I knew I was right. You did look older at that party. You weren't you... you were another you. And you are most definitely a bit older right at this moment." And then she laughed at the lovely absurdity of the statement, "But I suppose all versions of you no matter what Time you come from...are still fundamentally and always, well..."

"Me," she smiled. She missed having that kind of conversation.

"Walk with me?"

"Always."

The two women stood and began to walk through the garden. They paused every so often to admire a bed of flowers or a particular fountain. They watched from a distance as the young princess played with her visiting friends, running through the pathways playing hide and seek. Finally they entered a section of the gardens that was hidden except to those who knew the secret to entering.

They pushed passed a large wall of hedge and into the private alcove, a hidden garden removed from prying eyes that was filled with colorful blooms, tall patches of grass, beautiful trees, and a crystal clear stream that ran through the center. Setsuna and Serenity sought rest under the shade of a playful willow tree whose wispy branches barely brushed along the water of the stream.

"Tell me of your troubles, Setsuna," the queen bade as she brushed her fingers through her lover's long evergreen locks.

"I've no wish-"

"You trouble me more when you try to keep everything locked up inside you," she interrupted. Serenity pulled the taller woman closer and let her rest her head on her lap. She looked down into pools of merlot, the sad eyes of one so cursed with a differing kind of immortality and said, "There is nothing you can not tell me."

Time's Guardian shut her eyes and listened to the ripple of the water. She tried not to fall to distraction at the light touch of gentle hands stroking her face.

"Am I going to have to make it a royal command?"

"No... I just. Things happen and I... I can't stop them. There is nothing I can do that would not just make things worse."

"Bad things I take it?"

"Yes...," she paused to look up into the eyes of the woman she loved, "I..."

Guilt struck at her insides. What could she say? What could she say that would mean anything? Things happened. Time happened. There was no stopping it.

"Bad things happen, love. They happen to everyone. I mean... think of me."

Yes, poor Serenity. Just barely queen, just newly married, and with a child already coming and everything seemed so perfect on the Moon. But then it happened, that unexpected flaw, that something to shake the dream. The king died. It was sudden, an illness that seemed to come from nowhere. Serenity had to learn to fend for herself, and there was no one who she could really turn to. But she pulled herself from the ashes of grief and loss making herself a strong ruler and an excellent parent. She faced the bad for all it was worth refusing to let it topple her.

Oh, Setsuna thought, but that is nothing compared to what is coming love. It is nothing to the horrors the Earth's new queen will unleash upon you and yours... what she'll do to the entire galaxy.

"I know," Setsuna said aloud. "It was just... Time got a little personal with me today and it hurts. I feel helpless in its grasp because of the future."

Tears were beginning to stream down her face and the queen commenced wiping them away. She bent down to trail kisses along the darker woman's face. The regal ruler meant to comfort but it was like torture. It felt like the tiny stab of Destiny mocking their plight.

"You spent too long venturing through Time. I've never seen you so." She considered for a moment and then a streak of bare recollection showered in upon her. She swallowed hard and then said as softly as she could, "Oh... I think I know. How cruel Time is to you my love... This was not just about me. It was also about her."

Setsuna turned on her side to face away from her lover. She gritted her teeth and then relaxed. It hurt so much. She wanted to save them all. She wanted so much and Time allowed her so little.

"We make our own choices love. We walk our own paths and despite anything others may do to persuade us, we are still the ones who are in control. Do not fret for the future and be happy for what you have been given right now. Right here in this moment we are safe. Even she, in this moment, is safe."

She sat up and wiped her eyes dry. Words of comfort that did just that, how many times over the course of her undertaking had she uttered the same exact thing? How many times had she said them to her selves when she was in agony? But sometimes... sometimes those gems of advice, those pearls of wisdom and candor, and those things that comfort and warm after a long storm... sometimes they only make sense when they are spoken by someone else, when they are uttered with true and unabashed love.

"I love you, Serenity."

The queen smiled and moved, hugging the taller woman close to her, "I know. And I love you as well, always... no matter what the future should bring. I know how you feel deep in your heart. I know how your duty rips you to shreds when you feel you should have done more. You always do what is right Setsuna. You always do what you must and that... that is why our love surpasses even death."

She pulled back and then moved forward to capture the softness of lips that understood her better than perhaps even her selves ever could. The kiss was lasting and the grass was cool as Serenity pulled her down into it.

The moment was wide. It filled her heart and healed pieces of it she thought eternally broken.

Under the pale  
I seek for a dream  
I wander for a moment of peace  
And it seems  
As if I'm drowning in sorrow  
The black of my heart  
All I want is release  
Or the courage to tear this feeling apart  
And then she is there with words so sweet  
She reminds me of a promise  
Something I must keep  
With kisses soft and caresses so warm  
She teaches my soul to sing and I learn  
I remember my love and all I hold dear  
When she holds me close and whispers so near  
"We have this gift, this blessed relief  
It is the vow that throughout Time we shall meet"

Morning light crept through the curtains and poured out over the bed. She stirred at the warmth reaching out her hand to touch what was no longer there. Longing and lonely eyes opened as she sat up drawing the covers with her. She leaned into the dark wood of the head board and sighed sadly.

She took a moment an instant so brief it could hardly be noticed as being done. She peered through Time.

In the Future she saw an older version of herself peering back at her, alone in her bed and wanting.

In the past she saw a relatively younger self peering back at her with a subtle grin, she looked towards her left and it was fairly obvious she was not alone in her bed.

"That's it then," she muttered. "Everything is back on track and fixed."

She shut her eyes to keep herself from bursting into tears. She knew deep inside she had made the right decisions. She just wished she could have had more Time with Serenity. She wished that it did not pass like a dream through her memory. She wanted so badly to be able to wake by her lover's side each and every morning, but such luxuries were not to be had.

There was a light knock on her door. She got out of bed pulling on her robe and padded over to open it. Bright crimson eyes looked up at her and the young girl who stood there smiled widely.

"Good morning, Puu, you sleepy head," the child said.

"And good morning to you Small Lady," Setsuna replied kneeling down so that she was at the girl's eye level. "What are you doing over here? I thought you had gone back home."

"I did, but um...," she paused and looked around carefully. Then she stepped further into the room and whispered, "Close the door."

An evergreen eyebrow arched and she smiled, obeying the orders.

"I found something in the garden today," the child said and pulled a small golden key on a matching chain out of her pocket. "It looks kinda like the one I have."

The Guardian of Time's smile grew and then she said knowingly, "That's because it is like the one you have. Does anyone know you are here?"

"Only Hotaru. Is it yours? Do you want it back?"

She shook her head, "It was mine. Actually I had made it as a gift for someone but... I suppose they misplaced it. Why don't you keep it?"

The child shrugged, "I already have one though."

"Keep it anyway. You might find a use for it...in the future."

The pink haired little girl nodded and tucked the trinket away in her pocket. She grinned and then playfully tugged at the older woman to go down stairs and watch some cartoons with her. Setsuna agreed after all she had completed her mission. Everything was back in place and flowing the way Time had ordered it to. She had the Time to relax for just a little while.

Under the pale of a vanishing world  
Under the current of all I could regret  
Under the pull of beautiful skies  
Lost amidst the waking dream of Time  
I take my actions to heart  
I understand why they must be done  
And I take a moment to appreciate  
Each second as it comes  
Time will sup us up  
It will tangle a web  
But through everything  
Remember this one thing I have said  
Time gives us promises that it intends to keep  
It offers us chances to forever meet  
It gives us a gift to savor a love so very bittersweet

Far in the future Neo-queen Serenity walked side by side with Sailor Pluto. They spoke softly amid the corridors about serious matters and some not so pressing issues. As they moved up along the palace hallways two young women raced passed them giggling and sounding of mischief. The queen stopped and watched them run off and then she regarded the woman next to her with a questioning glance.

"You've spoiled them, Lady Pluto," the queen said almost chiding.

"Why say such things when you know it isn't true?"

"So you are telling me you haven't bent any rules?"

An almost cheeky grin appeared on the Time Guardian's face, "No, would I-"

"You would, so sate my curiosity that I may defend you should anyone else question me."

Setsuna's eyes wander off lingering on the space where the two girls had just been. She soaked in the ghost of the image one young woman with soft pick hair and crimson eyes; the other with near jet black hair and eyes the color of amethyst who was wearing a gold chain around her neck with a matching key. Their laughter bit at the corner of her mind and she sighed sadly as she looked back towards the queen.

"Sometimes even true love can not fend off what Time will bring. Not all endings are as happy as you and Endymion." _Or Neptune and Uranus_, Setsuna thought and felt the ghost of a missing ring around her finger.

"Yes but-"

"Do not fret for their future and allow them what Time they have," Pluto said solidly and continued her walk. She stopped, but once, peering ahead, seeing in the distance eyes of her own color looking sorrowfully back and she nodded.

Time happened.

It always would.

It was a strange thing that teased at life like nothing else could. Setsuna knew that. Setsuna lived it. She was Time's most beautiful paradox. She had her duty, but her duty never kept her from helping those she loved, especially when it was clear that a rule was meant to be broken.

She had her endings and she had her beginnings.

She had one great love that haunted her heart.

And above all, she had a promise, a tiny bobble that came to her from the depths of Time. It was the one thing she cherished over all else. It was an event numbering in ten and she waited patiently for that moment when she would be able to see her true love again.

End.


End file.
